" But how stupid where we to not include befriended exchanges." I rebutt that this question is not accurately worded. Perhaps something more along the lines of "How could we not have thought about all the multitudinous "tricky" ways required for dealing with a Chinese person in business relations - based on ASSUMPTIONS we make as "non-Chinese" as to what is "fair play", versus wat is "beyond the bounds" of fair play?"

I am actually finding this all very entertaining, in a twisted way, because it vindicated my original gut feeling about this as soon as I heard the news of the "partnership". Aside from all of the "scammy" top dApps on the Tron blockchain (which is PROOF that this dude is not exactly the must trustworthy/straight-forward guy in blockchain) I just find it humerous that as China is literally on lockdown right now we're seeing this sort of thing play out in the microcosm. The bottom line is that, Chinese people "do business" in a totally different way. And so when you ENGAGE them in business dealings you're simply going to be "tacitly agreeing" to dealing with their "tactics". I have not doubt in my mind that Justin Sun BELIEVE that what he is doing is "the best option at this time". And it may ultimately lead to "progress" of some sort. But everyone is going to have to ACCEPT, going forward, that by engaging with Steemit we are all now "tacitly agreeing" to this kind of managemet behavior. As for me, I initiated the 13-week "power down" of all of my ~ 2,600 Steem, with the understanding that the "13 weeks" will be a "trial period" for Justin Sun to prove to me that it is BETTER for me to keep my Steem staked in Steeit versus converting [that] Steem to DEC and putting it all into the @splinterlands game, whose admins' ethics and business practices I have MUCH more confidence in, because they have EARNED that confidence through transparency and fairness over time. Steemit is just ONE dapp. There ARE - and WILL BE others. I find this situation to be more ENLIGHTENING than anything else at this time. Everyone needs to make their own choice. I am still willing to give Justin Sun the next 12 weeks to "show me what he's got". But I'm also wise enough to do my due diligence. Either way, I think things will work out in the grand scheme...